"...the duration of time at our shop was a little over 2 hours..."…read more
I arrived at 0710, and paid at 0953 - that's 2 hours and 43 minutes - That's much closer to 3 than 2.
"...you signed off requesting our Courtesy Inspection..."
I didn't ask for it, but you put it on the RO anyway - understood. Why take one hour when you can take three, right?
"...we recommended maintenance items based on visual inspections..."
So your technician couldn't tell that my oil filter was literally just a few days old, and that my trans pan has a drain-plug that none of the originals came with (kinda' hard to miss), or that it's newer by a minimum of 18 years and has at least 150K fewer miles under it than all the surrounding parts? He also missed that while factory plug wires are red, mine are blue? Either your tech failed the visual inspection miserably, or you just went with the: "...along with mileage interval recommendations..." part.
So does this mean that the tech can't identify brand new vs. 19 year old parts, or is the mistake in recommending service that has obviously been performed by the service advisor who decided that it doesn't matter whether service is actually due, so long as it goes on the bill? In accordance with your excuse, the only real reasons you have left to choose from are: ignorance, incompetence, or dishonesty. Oof.
"We are obligated to provide you with this information for the safety of your vehicle, yourself, and everybody else on the road..." My ball-joins, bushings, pads/rotors, shocks, hubs, etc. will be replaced during my upcoming front-end rebuild, (the one that I never got an inclusive estimate for,) since she's coming up on her 200K birthday, and that's about as much as you can ask for from these components. However, if you mean to imply that "for everyone's safety" you're going to recommend ~$3K of unnecessary services, well that tracks with what I said about exaggerating the urgency of service. It's a poor tactic.
Still, I'll give credit where credit is due. If you had looked over the front-end, and not mentioned the brakes needing attention, that would be concerning.
"Our Service Advisor went over our findings with you in great detail, and a written estimate was provided to you..."
Yes, for many jobs that I didn't ask for, and not a single all-inclusive job that I needed done. My trust in this shop has been broken, so I'm not convinced that the diagnosis is correct, and since I already planned on replacing the recommended parts anyway, my time & money has been wasted at your shop.
Truthfully, I'm not angry at you or your business. All-in-all I paid $95 to get another vote on one of the two things that I thought might be the problem. I don't like it that it took so long, and with all the extras piled on, I don't feel like the actual issue got enough attention to have confidence in your diagnosis, but what I'd really hope for is improvement so that customers aren't wasting their money, and shops aren't prioritizing profit over people - When done right, the two go hand-in-hand, because happy customers always come back. No hate here - just a hope to see everyone doing better.
I'll leave it there.
Peace, Cotton